Daily Current Affairs : 22nd May 2020 | Daily GK update Quiz

Exp. In Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will inaugurate the ‘Everybody will get employment’ scheme on 22nd May through video conferencing.  Under this scheme, MNREGA job cards will be distributed to the labourers.

Aims: The scheme aims to provide employment to migrant labourers and those labourers who have gone out of the state in search of employment, in their village and gram Panchayat area itself.

Exp. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an advance interim assistance of Rs 1,000 crore for cyclone-hit West Bengal on 22nd May and announced a relief package of Rs 500 crore for cyclone-hit Odisha. The announcement came soon after he undertook an aerial survey of the state to review the aftermath.

Exp. ‘Tatpar’ programme was launched by the Ranchi district administration to ease their tiresome journey on foot.

Aims: Under the programme, officials collect information about those walking on national highways or on any other road to provide them transport facilities.

Exp. The Central Government has issued Public Procurement to encourage ‘Make in India’ and to promote manufacturing and production of goods and services in India. Under this order, Department of Defence Production (DDP), Ministry of Defence has so far notified 127 items where purchase preference is given to local suppliers as per PPP-MII 2017.

In order to further encourage procurement from local suppliers, 26 items out of 127 already notified and henceforth, procuring entities shall procure these items only from local suppliers, irrespective of purchase value, provided that the local suppliers meet the Minimum Local Content (MLC) as prescribed for each item.

Exp. India and Bangladesh on 20th May signed an agreement to operationalise five new ports of call and two new protocol routes to boost the bilateral trade.

High Commissioner of India in Bangladesh, Riva Ganguly Das, and Bangladesh Shipping Secretary Mohammad Mezbah Uddin Chowdhury signed the 2nd Addendum to the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade in Dhaka on Wednesday, a release said.

India and Bangladesh during Standing Committee on the Protocol and Shipping Secretary-level talks in October 2018 and December 2019 had decided to extend protocol routes, include new routes and increase ports of call.

Exp. UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund_ announced a new partnership with Airtel Africa aimed at providing children with access to remote learning and enable access to cash assistance for their families via mobile cash transfers.

Under this partnership, UNICEF and Airtel Africa will use mobile technology to benefit an estimated 133 million school age children currently affected by school closures in 13 countries across sub-Saharan Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exp. The finance ministry on 20th May exempted companies with a turnover of over ₹50 crore and involved in only B2B transactions from the requirement of accepting payments only by electronic modes like RuPay or BHIM-UPI.

“It is clarified that the provisions of Section 269SU of the Act shall not be applicable to a specified person having only B2B transactions (i.e. no transaction with retail customer/consumer) if at least 95% of aggregate of all amounts received during the previous year, including amount received for sales, turnover or gross receipts, are by any mode other than cash.

Exp. Swami Ramdev’s Patanjali foray into e-commerce through its app ‘OrderMe’ has started with average 10,000 daily transaction. The app went live last week. “During first four days, we have got tremendous response with over 10,000 transactions on a daily basis.

The app derives its name from sacred sound and a spiritual symbol in Indian religions, ‘OM’ (O for Order and M for Me). “Since contact less delivery at door is becoming new reality, we expect this new delivery mechanism will help in achieving that.

Exp. India’s top oil and gas producer ONGC and country’s biggest electricity generator NTPC have signed a preliminary agreement to set up a joint venture company for renewable energy projects.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and NTPC Ltd “entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on May 21, 2020 in New Delhi to formalize this arrangement.

The MoU will enable both companies to achieve their respective targets in renewable energy business.

Exp. E-commerce marketplace Flipkart on 20th May announced a partnership with Vishal Mega Mart retail store chain to facilitate the delivery of essentials at consumers’ doorstep in 26 cities across the country.

The number will be further scaled to 240-plus cities in the next four weeks. Under the partnership, consumers across over 365 Vishal Mega Mart stores will be able to order products and get them delivered at their doorstep. The products will be available as per government guidelines across all zones. Once a consumer places an order through the Flipkart app, delivery executives will collect the products from the nearest Vishal store and deliver it at the customer’s doorstep safely.

Exp. Private equity firm KKR is set to invest Rs 11367 crore in Jio Platforms for a 2.32% stake. This will be the fifth investment in the Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) business in rapid succession.

This transaction values Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs5.16 lakh crore. Jio Platforms will get a combined Rs78,562 crore from the five investments.

General Atlantic (1.34% stake) for Rs6,598.38 crore, Vista Equity Partners (2.32% stake) for Rs11,367 crore, US private equity firm Silver Lake (1.15%)for Rs5,655.75 crore, Facebook (9.99% stake) for $5.7 billion (43,574 crore).

Exp. ICRA Limited (formerly Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency) has sharply reduced the India’s FY21 (Fiscal Year 2020-21) growth forecast to -5 % from 2% growth predicted earlier.

On April 7, the ratings agency predicted that India’s economy is likely to witness a sharp contraction of 4.5 per cent during Q4 FY2020 and is expected to gradually recover to post a GDP growth of just 2 per cent in FY2021.

Exp. International Day for Biological Diversity is observed on May 22 every year. Observed by the UN, it focuses on protecting biodiversity and creates awareness about its issues. Which emphasizes on hope, solidarity and the importance of working together at all levels to build a future of life in harmony with nature.

Exp. Theme 2020: ‘Our solutions are in nature’

Exp. Policy repo rate cut by 40 basis points – from 4.4% to 4%

Exp. Policy Reverse repo rate cut by 40 basis points – from 3.75% to 3.35%.

Exp. RBI has injected funds amounting to 3.2% of GDP into the economy since the February 2020 monetary policy meeting to tackle the liquidity situation (Extra money).

Exp. Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) Rate & Bank Rate: 4.25%.